Serbia's outgoing coalition government, which collapsed over East-West ties, meets Friday to approve a Russian energy deal in a final showdown two days before crunch general elections.
Ministers will discuss proposed legislation on the Russian energy deal and, possibly, an accord on closer ties with the European Union.
The government - a wobbly alliance of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's nationalists and President Boris Tadic's pro-Europeans - fell apart in March after most E.U. nations recognized Kosovo's independence.
It is expected to forward to the new parliament the energy deal, which includes plans for a strategic gas pipeline through Serbia and the sale of 51% of state-owned oil monopoly NIS to Russian energy giant OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS).
Tadic's Democratic Party, or DS, has said it will also put on the agenda the E.U. Stabilization and Association Accord, a rapprochement accord that Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic inked with Brussels last week.
The move is seen as a tactical one designed to put pressure on Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia, or DSS, as the outgoing PM has railed against the SAA as a document that signs away Kosovo.
However it is unclear if the E.U. accord will be discussed at Friday's meeting, as Kostunica has already indicated that ministers of his DSS and its allies, the New Serbia party, will only deal with the Russian energy agreement.
"If the DS ministers use their majority put Solana's accord on the agenda, which would be a signature for Kosovo's independence, DSS and NS ministers will not participate in that scam, nor will we even vote for it," said Kostunica.
The DS believes that Kostunica, a moderate nationalist who has turned increasingly hardline since Kosovo's Feb. 17 independence declaration, would be put in an awkward position if forced to vote on it.
This is because such a vote would confirm Kostunica as anti-European and risk upsetting ranks of his party and supporters who still want to eventually join the 27-nation bloc.
Sunday's elections pit a pro-Western alliance spearheaded by Tadic's DS against the ultra-nationalist Radical Party, which looks set to form a coalition with Kostunica's DSS.